city of dreams
by leilalelanai
Summary: Austin and Ally get accepted to Brooker Phillps, a prestigious performing arts school in New York, and well, nothing but madness will ensue, because no one is crazier than kids with big dreams.
1. one

**one.**

Ally stifled a yawn as she padded downstairs to get the mail. A few minutes earlier, she had heard the familar clang of the metal letter box opening and shutting, and she dragged herself out of bed to collect it.

She would have liked another hour in bed, but she supposed it was time to get up, and start doing things.

Bending down, Ally grabbed the bundle of letters, and padded towards the kitchen.

"Bill, bill, acordian society letter- thats Dads, anyway," Ally mumbled as she flipped through the pile. "Bill, junk mail, fancy looking letter for Ally Dawson, bill-"

Ally stopped herself mid-sentence. "Fancy looking letter for Ally Dawson? Thats's me!" She made the all too obvious declaration to the empty kitchen.

Dumping the other letters on the table, Ally ripped open the cream envelope that was addressed to her, scanning the contents quickly.

"Ally Dawson," She mumbled aloud. "We are pleased to be able to offer you a place at Brooker Phillips Academy of Preforming Arts in New York for the forthcoming school year.."

Realisation dawned on Ally as she re-read the opening sentence of the letter over, and over. Brooker Phillips? That was the school Austin was always talking about! From what she had gathered from his excited gibbering about the school, it was one of the best in the country.

Ally couldn't help but snort. Why were they sending her a letter then?

Fumbling in her pocket, Ally unlocked her cell phone, and called the number she knew all too well at this point.

"Austin?" She could barely hold in her excitment. "You are never going to believe this-"

"_You're never going to believe what I just got Ally-" _Austin said, cutting her off.

"I got a letter from Brooker Phillips!" Ally practically yelled down the phone.

_"I got a letter from- wait, what?" _

"I got a letter from Brooker Phillips, that boarding school you're always talking about." Ally repeated.

_"Ally, this is amazing! I got one too!"_

"You did?"

_"Yeah!" _Ally could almost see her best friend nodding furiously, his blonde hair flying everywhere.

"Why did we get letters from them?" Ally questioned. "I mean, I can understand you getting one-"

_"Are you forgetting that you're the one who writes pretty much all my songs?" _Austin interrupted, his tone laughing. _"You're really talented Ally."_

"This feels surreal." Ally commented. "They offered you a scholarship too, right?"

_"A full scholarship, yeah."_

"Wow, this is just.." Ally couldn't quite put it into words.

_"I know." _Austin agreed. "_I've been talking about this place forever, but I never thought I'd be going there."_

"Did you apply?" Ally asked. "Because I didn't."

_"Neither did I. My parents said it was too expensive, and they wouldn't let me."_

"How did they find us then?"

_"The internet Ally, where else? I guess they saw some of the videos we posted."_

Ally rolled her eyes. Of course it had been the internet. She just really wasn't thinking that morning.

"What are we going to do?" She asked suddenly.

_"Celebrate with ice cream, obviously."_

"No, I mean about going Austin. Do you think your parents will let you?"

_"When its a full scholarship, maybe. What about your dad?"_

"Maybe, seeing as it** is **a scholarship." Ally echoed. "We should tell them."

_"My parents wont be back until later." _Austin said. "_But I could come to the store with you, when you tell your dad? I mean, if he knows both of us were offered places, he might say yes."_

Austin knew just how protective Mr Dawson was of his little girl. He had experienced it firsthand, after all.

Ally held back a shudder at the thought of the warnings her father had given Austin the night they were going to a school dance together. He really didn't seem to understand that she and Austin had been going as **friends**, mainly because Austin had been preforming and didn't really have the time to spend with a girl, and Ally didn't have a date.

Grimancing at the thought, Ally turned the kettle on. That had been a few days after she and Dallas had broken up. Another reason why she had gone with Austin, she needed the best friend support to face seeing Dallas at the dance with the blonde girl from her math class he was now dating.

"_Hello-o? Ally, are you still there?"_

"Yeah, I am." Ally nodded. She must have spaced out for longer than she'd realised. "I'm supposed to head over to the store in an hour, so will I meet you there?"

_"An hour? Sounds good, I'll see you then Als."_

"This is so exciting!" Ally said, the news starting to sink in a little more. She, little Ally Dawson, the girl with crippling stage fright had been offered a place at one of the most prestigious schools for preforming arts in the country.

If that wasn't a confidence boost, she didn't know what was.

_"I'm dancing around my room right now, I'm that excited."_

"At least you're a good dancer," Ally laughed.

"_Ally, if today goes well, we'll be going to a school with an amazing dance program. I think they could make a decent dancer out of you in two years!"_

"It would take a miracle and an injection of rythmn to make me a good dancer." Ally said wrly. "I'm going to go and get ready, I'll see you in an hour."

_"It takes you an hour to get ready?"_

"And to get to the store!" Ally said defensively.

"_Ally, you live a five minute walk from the mall. And that's if you're walking slowly."_

"Okay, maybe it does take me an hour to get ready, but I'm allowed! I'm a girl, its acceptable." Ally grinned. "You on the other hand.."

_"I don't take that long to get ready!"_

"Yeah, you do." Ally laughed. "You took like three hours to get ready for that internet awards show a few weeks back."

_"I needed to find the right shirt, okay?"_

"You're a bigger girl then I am sometimes." Ally said, her tone teasing. "I'll see you in a while Austin."

_"See you later Als."_

Ally set the phone down on the counter, and picked up the letter again. She couldn't move her eyes from the opening line, no matter how hard she tried.

_**We are pleased to be able to offer you a place at Brooker Phillips Academy of Preforming Arts...**_

Being a student at Brooker Phillips didn't sound half bad, the more she said it. Ally Dawson, junior at Brooker Phillips Academy of Preforming Arts.

It had a ring to it.

/

"ALL-Y!"

Ally whirled around as she heard someone screaming her name, pulling out her earbuds as she did so. "Austin!" She beamed as she saw her best friend jogging towards her.

As he skidded to a stop in front of her, Ally noticed that he had his letter stuffed in the back pocket of his jeans, and was wearing a smile big enough to split his face in two.

"Why are you so happy?" She asked, her tone teasing.

"Oh, you know. I got a letter from Brooker Phillips this morning, but it's no big deal." Austin gave a shrug.

"Nope," Ally agreed. "Its not a big deal at all. Its a **massive **deal!"

"Massive isn't a big enough word." Austin said thoughtfully. "I think humongous is better."

"Okay," Ally laughed. "Its a massive, humoungous, life changing deal."

"I like that one." Austin laughed.

"But.." Ally's face fell. "What if dad wont let me go? What if your parents don't let you go?"

"Don't think like that." Austin said. "They will."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, I was thinking." Austin said. "My parents will probably go for it because its a good academic school. And your dad Ally? He loves you, and if this is something that will make you happy, I think he'll go for it."

"When did you get so wise?" Ally teased.

"I had an hour to think about this." Austin shrugged. "Now, come on. Lets go talk to your dad!"

Ally let Austin tug her along enthusiastically, pulling her into the store where her dad was standing behind the counter, reading a magazine. The shop was empty, save for one person in the far corner, looking at sheet music.

"Hi dad," Ally greeted brightly.

"Hi Mr Dawson!" Austin sounded just as overwhelming bright.

"You two sound happy this morning." Clark Dawson looked between his daughter, and her best friend, closing his magazine.

"We are." Ally said, rooting in her handbag, finding her letter quickly. "Look what came in the post this morning dad. Austin got one too!"

Clark took the letter, unfolding it, his eyes scanning the paper. "Brooker Phillips?"

"Mmhm." Ally nodded furiously. "Its a preforming academy in New York-"

"One of the best in the world." Austin interrupted.

"Yeah, what he said." Ally confirmed. "And anyone whos **anyone** went to Brooker Phillips. Plus, Austin said that its a really good academic school as well."

Austin nodded. "It is."

"And its in New York?" Clark looked between both of them.

Ally's face fell. "I know its kind of far away dad, and you wont have anyone to help you with the store, and-"

"Will going here make you happy Ally?" Clark interrupted.

"More than anything." Ally said slowly.

"Then I want you to go." Clark replied.

"But what about the store?"

Clark waved her question off. "Don't worry about that. You're more important,"

"I love you so much dad." Ally said, leaning across the counter, and hugging her dad tightly. "Thank you."

"I'm so proud of you." Clark commented. "I didn't think anyone could have a music career.. But here you are, with a scholarship to a great school."

Ally's cheeks flushed.

"Your mom would have been so proud of you too Ally." Clark said, his eyes getting misty as he thought of his late wife. He coughed slightly, before continuing. "What did your parents say Austin?"

"Nothing, yet." He said. "They wont be back until later."

Clark nodded. "I really would prefer if you two were going together."

"Don't worry Mr D," Austin said brightly. "I'll convince them."

"Have you told Trish and Dez?" Clark asked.

Ally and Austin exchanged looks. Trish and Dez, they hadn't told Trish and Dez yet.

"Go on," Clark laughed. "Tell them. I can handle the store, its a quiet morning."

Ally nodded, and she and Austin left the store without a protest.

"What are we going to do Austin?" Ally asked, looking at him.

"What do you mean?"

"About Trish, and Dez!" Ally said, as if it were obvious. "We can't just leave them behind!"

"I.." Austin was lost for words. "I guess we just come right out and tell them."

Ally sighed. "I'll call Trish-"

"No need." Austin interrupted, pointing into the distance. "Trish and Dez are right there."

Eventually, Trish and Dez had worked past their pizza topping argument (_though it always errupted on movie nights) _to become good friends. Austin and Ally spent so much time together writing music, and songs, it made sense for them to hang out.

"Dez and I were-" Trish cut herself off mid sentence. "Why do you two look serious?"

"We have something we need to tell you." Ally said quietly.

"Did you two finally get together?" Dez squealed, jumping up and down like a four year old girl. "I've been waiting for this to happen since-"

"Dude," Austin interrupted. "Thats weird, first of all. And no, thats not what we need to tell you."

"Is someone dying?" Dez's face fell.

"Will you let them talk?" Trish rolled her eyes, lightly hitting his stomach.

"Thanks Trish." Ally said, and took a shaky breath. "We.. I mean, Austin and I got accepted to a preforming arts school called Brooker Phillips."

"On scholarships!" Austin interjected helpfully.

"Guys!" Trish looked between them, a smile spreading across her face. "That's amazing!"

"Yeah," Dez agreed. "But why do you look so serious about it?"

"Its.. Its in New York." Ally said.

"New York?" Trish's face fell slightly.

"We don't have to go!" Ally said quickly.

"Yeah, I mean we're best friends, we don't want to leave you guys behind-" Austin began to hurriedly say.

"Are you two crazy?" Trish interrupted, her eyes shocked. "You can't give up a freaking scholarship to a big fancy school!"

"Trish is right!" Dez agreed. "You have to go."

"We do?" Austin looked confused.

"Of course." Trish nodded furiously.

"But what about you two?" Ally asked.

"Preforming, that you and Austin's dream." Trish said, looking at Dez who nodded. "Its not ours."

"I want to make movies." Dez said. "Or open a window burger restaraunt, but I haven't really decided yet."

"The point is," Trish rolled her eyes. "You guys deserve to go to this school."

"But-"

"No buts Ally." Trish said. "Dez and I will be fine."

"We'll just have to order seperate pizza's now." Dez said.

"But we'll miss you guys." Austin said, his voice small.

"And we'll miss you," Trish said. "But theres email, and Skype-"

"And smoke signals." Dez nodded.

"They wont be able to see you making smoke signals from all the way in New York." Trish snapped.

"You want to put that to the test?" Dez challenged.

"How about you-"

"Guys!" Ally interrupted, cutting Trish's insult off before she could finish it.

"Sorry." Dez mumbled.

"The point is," Trish said. "We'll stay in contact. And you'll be in Miami during the holidays. Our friendship isn't going to end because you go to boarding school."

"Promise?" Ally pouted slightly.

Trish held up her hand. "Pinky promise."

The four of them linked pinky fingers, smiling at each other. Their friendship was strong, they would be fine. Right? Right.

"This calls for a group hug." Dez said, his long arms already moving.

"Group hug!" Austin echoed.

"No way." Trish shook her head. "I don't do group hugs."

"Group hug!" Ally joined in, grinning. Within a matter of seconds, the three of them had Trish pulled into a tight group hug, the small Latina hugging back despite her loud protests against the show of affection.

"Now all we have to do is convince my parents to let me go!" Austin said, his voice muffled. _Easier said than done._

/

Ally anxiously looked at her watch for what felt like the millionth time since they had gotten to Austin's house. Their blonde haired friend had disapeared into the house forty minutes earlier, leaving the three of them sitting outside on the kerb.

Someone's iPod was playing, but Ally couldn't consentrate on the music. Or anything much at all, really.

She just needed to know if Austin was coming to New York. Ally couldn't go without him, that much she was certain of. Over the years, they had become Austin**and**Ally, not Austin, and Ally.

They were a duo, partners, and she wasn't going to go to the school of their dreams without him.

Sighing, Ally checked her watch again. Forty three minutes.

She knew exactly what Austin's dad was like. He was bossy, controlling, and he didn't aprove of Austin pursuing a music career, and more often than not, Austin's mom went along with everything Mr Moon said.

It would take a lot of convincing on Austin's part, a hell of a lot of convincing actually.

"Ally," Trish's voice brought her back to reality.

"Huh?" Ally looked at her best girl friend.

"Calm down." Trish said, grinning. "You look like you're going to be sick, and you're chewing your hair again."

"Oh," Ally let go of the chunk of hair she was nibbling on.

"Austin's good at convincing his parents." Dez commented from where he was lying down, his legs in the air. "He got his parents to let him go to plate spinning camp once."

"But thats camp!" Ally said. "This is school, and its New York, and its **music**!"

"Ally, please try not to have a mental breakdown at the side of the road." Trish said, her hand on Ally's shoulder.

"I can't help it!" Ally sounded as though she was ready to cry, or explode.

Before anyone could say anything else, they heard a door slam.

"Austin?" Ally jumped up to see Austin leaving his house, looking dejected.

"I'm sorry Alls," He said quietly, looking at the floor. "You're going to have to put up with me 24/7, because we're going to New York!"

"What?" Ally looked at Austin's grinning face, both shocked and confused.

"They said yes Ally!" Austin said, almost yelling he was so excited. "I'm allowed go!"

Ally's expression flipped, going from sad and nervous to an ear to ear grin in a matter of seconds. "They did!"

"YES!" Austin said, and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her in for a hug. He picked her up slightly, spinning around. "WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK ALLY!"

"Austin!" Ally giggled in protest as he lifted her off the ground. "Put me down!"

"Nope!" Austin grinned. "Not until you yell it with me."

"Yell what?" Ally rolled her eyes, holding tightly onto Austin's shirt.

"We're going to New York."

"Really Austin?"

"If you want me to put you down.."

"Okay," Ally relented. "We're going to New York."

"With feeling Ally," Austin said. He was starting to loose his grip on Ally, and he looped his arms around her waist even tighter in an attempt to keep holding her off the ground.

"WE'RE GOING TO NEW YORK!"

"Thats better." Austin grinned, setting her down, but not letting go of her waist.

"We're going to New York." Ally repeated, her hands resting on Austin's shoulders. "Oh my god."

The two friends grinned at each other, their minds fast forwarding to September, and their new school.

_Brooker Phillps, here we come._

_/_

**authors note: **I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! This is my first fanfic, the first one I've actually uploaded at least, so feedback would be greatly appreciated! I'm not entirely sure how old they are on the show right now, but I assume its around 14/15? For the purposes of this fic though, they're now 15/16.

I'll stop talking now.. Again, feedback is amazing. I'd like to know if I'm keeping this wonderful people in character.


	2. two

**two.**

_Miami International Airport, 12:54 am._

"**Last call for passengers travelling on the 13:20 flight to JFK."**

Austin and Ally looked around at the group gathered with them at the airport as they heard the call.

"That's us!" Austin said, excitment rising in his stomach.

"Call as soon as you land," Jennifer Moon said, hugging her son tightly. "And stay safe, both of you!"

"Keep up with your school work." David Moon said, his tone gruff as he shook his sons hand. Austin nodded, returning the handsshake. That was the extent of their relationship; handsshakes and questions about school work.

Austin never talked about it, but they had been friends for almost two years. Ally had noticed.

"Don't forget about your old dad, eh?" Clark said, smiling at Ally as he gave her a bone crushing hug. "I know how amazing the bright lights of the big city can be."

"I'd never do that dad." Ally said, clinging onto him.

"I know hon." Clark pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You have an amazing time, okay? And I'll see you for thanksgiving."

Ally nodded, letting go relucantly.

"Come here girl." Trish said, grabbing Ally and hugging her tightly. "You are going to email me, or text me everyday, okay?"

"Okay." Ally nodded, her eyes welling up at the thought of not seeing Trish everyday. "And you have to send me a photo of your new uniform everytime you get a new job, alright?"

Trish laughed. "I will. Have an amazing time in New York,"

"I'm going to miss you," Ally said, hugging Trish again.

"I'll miss you too Ally."

"I'm going to miss you bro!" Dez wailed, throwing himself at Austin.

"Dude!" Austin laughed. "I'm not going to be that far away." He couldn't hug his friend back, seeing as Dez had his arms pinned to his sides, so Austin stood there awkwardly as Dez sobbed at him.

"Wait, I thought you were going to New York?" Dez looked confused.

"I am?"

"That's in Australia." Dez said seriously. "Its really far away."

"New York is in America," Trish said, speaking as though she was talking to a small child. "Remind me to buy you a map for your next birthday."

Laughing slightly, Ally gave Dez a hug. "I'm going to miss your weirdness."

"And I will miss your strange hair biting habits," Dez said. "And you yelling at me for eating in the store."

"Ally," Austin looked at his watch. "We need to go, or we'll miss our flight."

Ally nodded, holding tightly onto her hand luggage. "Goodbye then." She said, giving her dad one last hug before joining Austin, and starting to walk away.

As they reached secuirty, Ally turned around once more to look at the small group that had gathered to see them off. She waved, before turning around, stilfing a sob as she did so.

"Ally, are you crying?" Austin asked from where he was dumping his stuff in a basket to go throught the xray machine.

"Nope, I'm good." Ally shook her head, her voice thick with tears as she walked through the body scanner. "I'm all good."

"Ally.." Austin said slowly, sighing. He stuffed his wallet and phone back into his pockets before slinging his bag over one shoulder. "Please don't cry."

"I c-can't help it!" Ally sniffed. "I'm going to m-miss them so much!"

"We're only going to New York Ally," Austin said. "Its not exactly.. Australia. We wont be that far away."

"I haven't spent longer than two weeks away from Trish in the past eight years," Ally said. "I'm really going to miss her. And my dad Austin! I haven't spent more than two **days **away from him since, since, ages!"

She looked at him, her expression desperate. "I don't think I can do this."

"Ally," Austin stopped walking, and placed his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to be okay."

"How do you know that?"

"Because your dad and Trish wanted you to take this opportunity," Austin pointed out. "And, in a few hours, we'll be in New York. Its the place where dreams come true, remember? We're going to have an amazing time."

"It doesn't mean I wont miss them." Ally said, tears running down her cheeks.

"I know." Austin gave her a small grin. "But you've got me, that's something, right?"

"Yeah." Ally nodded. "It is. But you do know that because Trish isn't around all the time now, you're going to have to be the one to listen to me talk about boys."

Austin paled slightly. "I don't think I can handle any more boy talk, not after Dallas. And Evan."

"Need I remind you of Charlotte?" Ally raised an eyebrow, cheering up at memory of the girl Austin had been obsessed with a few months previously. He hadn't stopped talking about her for weeks, and when he tried to ask her out, he ended up in the mall fountain.

That had been entertaining, and well worth the hours, upon hours of Austin gushing about Charlotte's hair, Charlotte's face, Charlotte's smile, Charlotte's **everything **really, that Ally had put up with.

"Ouch." Austin grimanced as they reached the gate. "That was not nice."

"You're the one who brought Dallas and Evan up." Ally said innocently.

"Touche." Austin admitted. "How about we leave all those crazy people in Miami?"

"Deal." Ally laughed. "But you know, preformers are hot. I'm going to talk about guys way more when we get there.."

"I'm not going to listen."

"But we established a few minutes ago that you're my honary best girl friend while we're at Brooker Phillips," Ally teased. "Of course you'll have to listen."

"I am going to find you a girl to talk to as soon as we get there." Austin said seriously.

Ally feigned disapointment. "But who else is going to watch romantic comedies with me?"

"That was a one time thing!"

"Austin," Ally laughed. "You cried at the Notebook."

"I didn't." Austin flushed bright red.

"And the Vow."

"Did not."

"And the Proposal, though I don't know why."

"You're crazy."

"What I'm trying to say is," Ally said as they put their luggage in the overhead compartment of the plane. "I'm not going to be able to find anyone else who enjoys romantic comedies as much as you."

"I feel slightly emasculated."

"Nice word," Ally looked impressed.

"I tried to pinpoint the feeling I got after we had a six hour romantic movie marathon," Austin replied. "That's what I came up with."

Ally had to laugh. "You enjoyed that movie marathon."

"It was because of the popcorn."

"Deny it all you want," Ally grinned as they settled into their seats. "But you're secretly a romantic."

"And you," Austin countered. "Are delusional."

"Mhm." Ally nodded, reaching into her handbag and pulling out a well read brouchure.

"You have the brochure with you?" Austin raised an eyebrow.

"I've read it pretty much every night since we got it." Ally admitted. "And now we're actually on the plane, it all feels a lot more real. I want to look at our new home!"

"Its pretty cool." Austin nodded, leaning in to get a better look at the glossy pages. The booklet was well worn at this point, with pages folded over, and things circled. Ally really had poured over it.

Austin, he had given his booklet one look before tossing it aside and returning to his usual summer routine. There was far too much reading involved, especially when it was summer.

"The stage looks amazing." Ally commented, pointing at the two page spread of glossy photos.

"It does." Austin sounded awed. "Can you imagine preforming on that?"

Ally couldn't help but feel anxious as Austin mentioned the word preform. "No, no, no. I wouldn't want to anyway, you know-"

"Your stage fright is still really bad?" Austin inquired.

"Yes." Ally sighed. "And I'm terrified about going to this school, because what if they make me go on stage, and-"

"They could cure your stage fright." Austin interrupted. "The teachers and stuff I mean. Or maybe just being at the school could cure it."

"Maybe- oh God, we're taking off." Ally reached for a strand of hair, her hands shaking.

"I didn't know you were a bad flyer."

"I've never been on a plane before." Ally admitted. "And the idea of being stuck in a small enclosed space for hours with a bunch of strangers really freaks me out, and I think I need to get off. Is it like at the fun fair? Can you start screaming and they'll stop the ride and let you off?"

"Ally," Austin said, barely able to hold back laughter. "Chill."

Ally shook her head. "I can't chill, chilling is not an option. It is not an option Austin!"

"Ally." Austin grabbed her hands. "Look at me."

Ally looked at him with a wild expression.

"Think about New York," He said, hoping his tone sounded soothing. "And all the pianos at the school, and the songwriting classes, and the new friends we're going to make.."

Ally took a shaky breath. "New York," She murmered, turning to face around properly again, her gaze fixed on the seat in front of her. "New York."

"See?" Austin grinned. "Its fine."

"Its all good." Ally nodded.

"Anyway," Austin said, intertwining their fingers tightly, and flashing her a brilliant smile. "I'm not a stranger."

/

"Is this the right place?" Ally inquired as they grabbed their bags out of the taxi. She had paused to take a look at the huge brownstone building in front of them.

"I think the big sign saying Brooker Phillips Preforming Arts Academy gives it away a little Als," Austin teased.

"Smartass." Ally rolled her eyes, lifting her suitcase out of the trunk of the taxi with a pained 'oof!' The major downside to boarding school was that fact you had to cart all your stuff their on the first day.

At least, she hoped that was the major downside.

"I can't believe we're actually here." Austin said, sounding slightly awed. He had just paid the tazi driver, and was shouldering his guitar case, working out how best to get all his bags up the steps, and into the school.

"Me neither." Ally shook her head. "Though, it feels like time went really fast."

"That doesn't make sense."

"You know what I mean." Ally said. "Like, it felt like we'd never get here, and yet.. Here we are, and it feels like we only got the letter last week."

"Mm." Austin nodded. "Are we going to stare at the school all day, or can we go inside?"

Ally didn't reply, lost in her own thoughts.

"All-y?" Austin called, waving a hand in front of her face.

"What? Oh, sorry." Ally came back down to earth with a bang.

"What's up?" Austin inquired.

"Nothing." Ally reassured. "I'm just thinking about how much everything's changed. Two years ago, I was just another kid, working in my dads store part time and writing songs every chance I got."

She looked at him, and gave him a bright smile. "This year is going to be crazy, right?"

"I'd say that's a safe bet to make." Austin nodded, and the pair of them started their struggle up the front steps of the school.

"They didn't really think about the fact people would have a lot of baggage when they built the school, did they?" Austin huffed, struggling to his feet. He had tripped over his suitcase, and landed flat on his face.

"It was probably built long before it was a boarding school." Ally said wisely. Somehow, even in her wedges, she had managed to make it up the steps without any great injury.

Thankfully, the huge wooden doors of the school were wide open, and as they reached the top of the steps, they could hear noise from within. It was a loud buzz, ocasionally broken by an excited yell, or laughter.

It was a welcoming sound, as a matter of fact.

Austin and Ally pushed their way into the school, and the massive open space that was the reception.

"Welcome to Brooker Phillips!" A dark haired woman, who couldn't be more than thirty, greeted brightly, her blue eyes sparkling as she looked at them. "Names please?"

"Austin Moon."

"Ally Dawson."

"Ah, the duo Mr Ferris was excited to have in the school." She beamed at them. "I'm Michelle, I'm one of the teachers here. Right, I think I should find y'all your dorms before you drop dead because of all those bags."

Michelle gave a small laugh, her bright smile never fading. "It wouldn't do to have our new students tired on the first day." She gave them a wink. "You'll be feeling tired in a week though."

Austin and Ally exchanged slightly terrified looks.

"Now.." Michelle flicked through papers she had clutched tightly in her hands. "Austin Moon, your room is 141A, on the fourth floor."

Austin nodded.

"And Ally.. You're on the fourth floor too, 139A." Michelle beamed at them. "Walk down this corridor on the left, and theres an elevator at the end of the hallway. There's signs everywhere for the first few days, so you wont get lost. Too much, anyway."

"Thank you," Ally nodded, nervousness bubbling in the pit of her stomach. She was good at getting lost, even in places where it was close to impossible to get lost.

"Dinner's at.." Michelle checked the file in front of her. "Half five today, just so we can have an assembly before we eat. Otherwise, its at six."

Austin and Ally said their thanks, and moved to turn away.

"Oh, wait!" Michelle stopped them in their tracks. "I'm so forgetful, I forgot to give you your timetables."

She had grabbed two surprisingly thick folders from a table beside her, their names on each of them.

"Happy reading." She beamed, and bustled off to speak to another student.

"Its this corridor, right?" Austin inquired as they walked left.

"Everyone seems to be going that way." Ally nodded. Austin shrugged, and proceeded to walk that way, drinking in everything about the school. Despite the old brownstone look, the school itself, on the inside at least, was completely modern.

Austin was postive he had never seen that much glass, or bright colours in one place. It was cool though, a refreshing change from their mostly blue and grey school back in Miami. It only took a few minutes for them to reach the elevator, where there another student already waiting.

"This place is awesome." Austin commented.

"And we've only been here like, two minutes." Ally agreed. "I can't wait to see the rest of it. Its so much more amazing in person,"

"Oh, trust me." A girl with dark red hair, a colour that couldn't be natural said, smiling at them. "This place gets even better."

"Its our first year here." Ally said.

"I know," The girl said, making both Austin and Ally feel more than a little weirded out.

"Everyone knows everyone around here," She said as a way of explanation. "We're not a huge school. I'm Florence de Rossi by the way, but everyone calles me Flo."

"Ally Dawson," Ally introduced.

"Austin Moon." Austin said, unable to take his eyes off the girl. There was something about her that was completely captivating, and interesting.

"Oh, I've seen some of your videos," Flo nodded. "You're pretty talented, both of you."

"Both of us?" Ally's eyes widened.

"Unlike most people, I pay attention to who writes the songs." Flo grinned, stepping into the elevator as the doors opened with a _ding_. "What floor are you two on?"

"Fourth." Austin answered for both of them.

Flo nodded, hitting the button for the fourth floor. "Me too. What year are you starting in?"

"Junior."

"We'll be seeing a lot of each other then," Flo said, smiling. "I'm a junior as well."

"How long have you been going here?" Ally inquired.

"Since freshman year." Flo nodded. "I spent like four years begging my parents to let me apply, and I got in on the first audition."

"Auditon?" Austin wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"Mmhm." Flo nodded. "The school has an audtion process so you can get a place. I'm guessing you didn't do that?"

Austin shook his head.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Ferris took all the videos you two had on the internet as your audtion." Flo said thoughtfully. "He does that sometimes. Did it for Jasper, but then again, he lives in Australia when he's not here."

"I'm never going to remember everyone's names." Ally hissed to Austin.

"You'll be fine," Flo had heard her. "No one minds the newbies forgetting names at the start, and you'd be surprised how quickly you pick up peoples names. You are around them twenty four seven,"

The elevator doors opened, and they stepped out into a bright, bustling corridor. Most doors were open, allowing both Austin and Ally to catch a glimpse of the people they would be sharing their lives with for the next two years.

People were unpacking, playing instruments, blasting music, or having impromtu jam sessions in the middle of the hallway. The whole place felt so alive, and the pulsing mix of music genres, and tunes was one of the more amazing things either of them had experienced.

"Is it always like this?" Ally found herself asking, awed.

"Always." Flo grinned. "That's what you get when you put a bunch of kids with a passion for preforming in the same building, I guess. Do you need help finding your rooms? Though, I think most people are here already, so it shouldn't be too hard."

Flo leaned over, and looked at the booklets Ally and Austin were holding.

"Oh, Ally, your room is next to mine." She said. "And yours is a few doors down, it'll be easy enough to find."

Flo lead them down the corridor, easily weaving her way through people, pausing occasionally to say hello, or give someone a high five. She was clearly popular, though, from what Ally had seen so far, everyone seemed to get on well.

It didn't feel like there was seperate groups, a certain popular group. Maybe, maybe it was because all of these people were kind of on the same wavelength. They were performers, and musicans, and dancers, and they were all striving to achieve the same dream.

Maybe that was why.

"Here we are," Flo stopped outside her room, pointing to the door next to hers. "That's yours Ally, and yours is a little further down Austin."

Austin nodded, and turned to Ally. "I'll come talk to you in a minute, okay?"

Ally nodded, and watched him continue his journey down the corridor, his gaze locked on the walls, more specfically the numbers that hung from them.

"You're a cute couple," Flo commented.

"Austin and I?" Ally spluttered. "Oh, we're not a couple! God no. We're just best friends,"

"Alright then." Flo shrugged. "You'd make a cute couple- and oh my God, is that a Dooney and Burke bag?"

Ally looked down at the handbag that was resting on her shoulder. "Yeah, Austin got it for me with some of the money he got from being on a talk show."

"And you say you aren't a couple." Flo teased. "Its cute though hon. I think you and I are going to be great friends, you know that?"

"Really?" The word had left her mouth before Ally had a chance to stop herself. _Way to sound like a total idiot Ally._

"Yeah! You have great fashion sense," Flo said. "And theres something about you Ally. You seem cool,"

Cool? Her? Ally barely held back a snort.

"You seem really awesome too." She said, a smile spreading across her face at Flo's words.

"See? We're practically friends already." Flo beamed. "Hang around here before dinner, and I'll show you and Austin where to go. If you want me to, I mean."

"That would be great," Ally nodded. "Austin and I are good at getting lost."

Flo laughed. "I'll talk to you soon Ally."

With that, she disapeared into her dorm room, her red hair flowing out behind her. Pushing down the handle of her own room, Ally stepped inside.

It was small, but she had expected it to be. It was, after all, made for only one person. Ally didn't mind though. She liked having her own space over having to share a room with a stranger.

She set her bags down on her bed, her arms screaming in relief. Right now, the room was bare, the cream walls free of posters, and pictures. The only decoration was marks left behind by previous occupants of the room, from having their pictures, and posters stuck up with sticky tape.

Ally opened up one of her bags, and grabbed the bundle of photographs, and posters she had carefully placed there before she had left Miami that morning. Rooting out the packet of blue tac she had bought in the airport, she ripped open the cardboard, and set about making her dorm a little more homely.

The photos were of her dad, and of Trish and Dez, and Austin, and some random ones from concerts, and parties. She was almost done creating her wall of photographs when she picked up one that made her stop.

Sitting down onto her bed slowly, Ally stared at the photograph. It was of her, Trish, Dez and Austin, before they had gotten the news about Brooker Phillps. Summer had just begun, and they had gone out for ice cream and pizza (_in that order, at Dez's insistance) _to celebrate.

They had asked one of the waiters to take a picture of the four of them, and of course, not a single one of them was looking at the camera itself. Thats what made the picture so amazing in Allys mind.

All four of them were staring at each other, mouths wide open as they laughed about something. For the life of her, she couldn't remember what they had been smiling about, but the sentiment alone was enough to make her heart ache for home.

"Knock knock!"

Ally looked up to see Austin bouncing into the room, looking like an excited puppy. His expression fell as he noticed Ally, and her tears.

"Ally, whats up?" He sat down next to her.

Ally showed him the photo. "I miss them already."

"I know." Austin sighed. "I do too. But don't cry about it Ally!"

"Why not?"

"Because for one, Trish would kill you if she knew you were spending your first day at Brooker crying alone in your dorm, and not making new friends and showing everyone how talented you are."

"Stage fright Austin." Ally reminded.

"But maybe this place is your cure!" Austin said. "And thats not the point, anyway. Trish and Dez wouldn't want you to be upset about them."

"I can't help but feel we've just abandonned them." Ally muttered.

"Ally." Austin groaned. "Don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not being ridiculous!" Ally said defensively. "We just picked up and went off on our big New York adventure without even thinking about them!"

"That is completely untrue." Austin said. "They wanted us to come, remember? Music is our dream, not theirs."

Ally stayed silent.

"Ally, if you're going to be like this all year, we might as well just go home now." Austin said seriously.

"We?" Ally looked confused. Why would Austin be leaving too?

"I'm not doing this without you." Austin said simply. "We're partners, you and me."

"Do you really think this place is going to make our dreams come true?" Ally said after a silence.

Austin smiled, knowing he had gotten through to her. "Yup."

"Even with my stage fright?"

"We're curing that, remember?" Austin grinned. ""Plus, you and me can do anything."

"We can?"

"Mmhm." Austin made a noise of confirmation. "We're a good team."

"What if you find some other songwriter once school starts?"

"Nope." Austin popped the 'p' in the word loudly. "No one's ever going to replace you Als. As long as you don't find some other singer to write for,"

"I couldn't." Ally said, with a smile. "You're my goose, remember?"

Austin held out a hand, his pinky sticking out. "Pinky promise?"

"Pinky promise what?"

"That'll we'll always be best friends," Austin said, serious for once. "No matter what. I can't do this without you Ally,"

Ally smiled, and hooked her finger with his. The gesture should have felt a whole lot more juvenille then it did.

"Best friends forever." She said quietly. Maybe New York wasn't going to be such a scary experience after all.

/

**author's note;** Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts etc., last chapter! I didn't think I'd even get one, so that was amazing. I'll do my best to update every few days, but with school that isn't set in stone.

Thanks again! And you know, feedback is always awesome ;D


End file.
